Death penalty dropped in killing of Kristy Hoke

Jeffrey Eldon Miles Sr. pleaded guilty to general murder in Franklin County Court Tuesday in connection with the April 2010 death of a Hagerstown woman whose body was found in Waynesboro.

Denise Bonura/The Record Herald

Jeffrey Eldon Miles Sr. pleaded guilty to general murder in Franklin County Court Tuesday in connection with the April 2010 death of a Hagerstown woman whose body was found in Waynesboro.

"I am responsible for stabbing Kristy Dawn Hoke with a pair of scissors that caused her death," Miles said.

Miles, 50, formerly of State Line, admitted in a status hearing before President Judge Douglas Herman that he killed Hoke, 29, on April 3, 2010, and gave up his right to a trial by jury.

In exchange for the plea, District Attorney Matthew Fogal said he will no longer be seeking the death penalty for Miles.

Two homicides

Hoke's body was found in a wooded area off of Ninth Street in Waynesboro on April 6, 2010. Miles reportedly led local law enforcement officials to the site after he was found along an Interstate 81 overpass on State Line Road threatening to harm himself.

Miles also is charged with criminal homicide in the 1995 death of Waynesboro teen Angie Lynn Daley. While investigating Hoke's death, police found a notebook written by Miles that outlined a 1995 killing. Police say he led them to Daley's remains on a farm in Waynecastle the same day Hoke's body was found.

Miles has pleaded not guilty in Daley's death, and a trial in the case has been postponed until January 2014. He remains in Franklin County Jail, where he has been held without bond since April 2010.

What's next

A degree of guilt hearing will begin Nov. 18.

Miles could be convicted of first-, second-, or third-degree murder. The maximum sentence is life in prison without the possibility of parole and the minimum is 40 years in prison with the possibility of parole.

Fogal said he plans to ask for a first-degree murder conviction. Once the testimony is complete, Herman will decide the degree in which the killing was committed and determine Miles' sentence.

Fogal said the hearing is likely to take three to four days, and he will call 11 or 12 witnesses.

The victim's daughter

Members of Hoke's family, including mother Beverly Durboraw and 17-year-old daughter Whitnie Wyand, fought tears during the hearing. Wyand said after the hearing she does not feel her family was served justice by this agreement, and hopes Miles rots for what he did to her mother.

Wyand was a freshman in high school when her mother was killed. She now has an 8-month-old son "she's never going to meet."

Wyand said she would have preferred Miles face the death penalty, but hopes he faces the same fate her mother did while he's in prison. Kristy Hoke leaves behind two other children, Alivia Hoke and Darian Ingram.

"I think he's afraid to look at me because I look like my mom," Wyand, the oldest of her siblings, said. "He looked at me for five seconds, and had to close his eyes."

She was afraid when he did, he pictured her mother at the time of her death, a thought Wyand said made her sick.

Wyand said she plans to address the court during the degree of guilt hearing.

"I feel that he's really cocky, and just doesn't care," she said. "I think he can go to sleep at night and not care about what he did."

Several delays

Miles initially pleaded not guilty to criminal homicide in Hoke's death, and was scheduled for trial. The trial has been delayed several times in the past two years. Jury selection was supposed to begin next week and has now been canceled.

"I certainly had some concerns there would be another delay," Fogal said Tuesday afternoon. "I can't speak for the family, but I know any time a case like this gets closer to resolution, it does help bring some closure to family members. This particular case has been continued many times. It's very frustrating for the commonwealth and, more importantly, for the family. Anytime there is a death penalty case, it consists of delays and certain costs. For it having gone on this long, I certainly wanted to avoid additional costs and delays."

Fogal said he consulted with Hoke's mother when the plea agreement was proposed, and also discussed it with the rest of her family.

The guilty plea

During Tuesday's hearing, Herman asked Miles a series of questions pertaining to the guilty plea, to make sure he understood what he was doing.

Miles confirmed he was not forced to plead guilty or threatened by anyone in the case. He also verified his attorneys, Eric Weisbrod and Kristen Hamilton, went over the agreement with him and answered his questions.

However, when asked if he understood he was giving up his right to be presumed innocent, Miles responded, "I do now."

Weisbrod later explained to his client, "When entering a guilty plea of general murder, the presumption of innocence you previously enjoyed is now gone."Miles confirmed that he understood the statement.

He also agreed he would not testify in his own behalf during the degree of guilt hearing, and said he understood witnesses would be called to testify in regards to his state of mind during the murder.

Miles also verified he was not being treated for any mental illness, and did not take any prescribed medications that could hinder his mental capacity before the plea was made.

Different degrees

Herman defined the different degrees of murder:- First-degree murder is committed with malice — "spite, hatred, ill will, a bad mental state or attitude a person must have in order to commit murder."

- Second-degree murder is committed during the course of a felony.

- Third-degree murder is a killing committed with malice, but without a specific intent to kill. Herman said there may be a specific intent to cause harm, but not necessarily death, "even though there may be deliberation or premeditation," with third-degree murder.

Miles asked why the possible convictions stop at third-degree murder, and don't include lower convictions such as manslaughter.

Herman explained once a guilty plea of murder is entered, the starting point is third-degree murder.

"The state still has the burden to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt," Herman told Miles. "This isn't over yet."

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